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Philological Examination Questions on Hamlet

Question: Explain: "Methought I lay worse than the mutines in the bilboes." V. ii.

Answer: Those confined by fetters and all chained together, so that the slightest movement of one would arouse all the others from sleep. Bilboes is derived from the name of the place Bilboa, in Spain, where the iron fetters were made.


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How to cite this article:

Mertins, Emma. Shakespeare Examinations. Ed. William Taylor Thom, M. A. Boston: Ginn and Co., 1888. Shakespeare Online. 10 Aug. 2010. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/examq/twentytwo.html >.
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